The League of Women Voters of McLean County recognizes volunteer Georgine Chissell for her voter participation.

McLean County Branch League of Women Voters (LWV) recognized a member who makes an effort to educate people about the importance of voting.

Georgine Chissell was presented the Florence Phifer Bohrer Prizenamed for the first female Illinois State Senator and founder of the McLean County chapter of the LWV.

Chissell ran for Ward 2 for the Bloomington City Council in the 2019 election, losing to Donn Bolen. Chissell said she lost because of low voter turnout and has since worked to increase voter turnout.

“I’m very honored, very honored because it’s a big award,” Chissell said. “So I get a plaque and then they make a donation to the organization of my choice.”

Chissell also serves as chair of a political action committee dedicated to improving voter education and turnout in the Bloomington-Normal NAACP. This past July, Chissell attended their national convention in Las Vegas.

“It was so interesting and I learned a lot. I was so ready to get back and start. And I did it. I came back running, I’m telling you, I just didn’t stop,” Chissell said. “And I hope that after Tuesday night I can rest, get some rest until January when we start the April elections again in Bloomington-Normal.”

Chissell also noted an encouraging level of turnout from younger voters. Chissell registered more than 200 people to vote in his first election of the year. Chissell herself stated that she had nothing to do with politics until she was 18 years old.

“I never saw my father vote. We didn’t talk about it at home because in my era everything was seen and not heard, and so if adults were talking in the room, I knew I had to leave the room,” Chissell said. “So I grew up not knowing a lot about a lot of things, and so in college my eyes were opened.”

Chissel’s work also helped Illinoisans understand that someone can still vote if they have been convicted of a crime.

“As long as you’ve served your sentence or are in the county and haven’t been sentenced, you can vote and a lot of them don’t know that,” Chissell said. “They say, ‘What do you mean?’ and here it is. They open the door for me and I just start, you know, pouring out information.”